Bartek is one of those crazy people that fell into the black hole of converting their regular vans into adventure waggons. After some years of great adventures he decided to make his van a mobile cafe.

Bartek is one of those crazy people that fell into the black hole of converting their regular vans into adventure waggons. After some years of great adventures he decided to make his van a mobile cafe.

Meet Bartek. Bartek is one of those crazy people that fell into the black hole of converting their regular vans into adventure waggons. After some years of great adventures he decided to make his van a mobile cafe. If you want to learn more about his interesting story head to the interview below.

How did you come up with the idea of buying a van? What were the plans and dreams associated with it?

I got my first VW T3 bus from my dad just after passing my driving test. It wasn’t love at the first sight. He bought the car from a farmer. The inside was full or dirt, the brakes only slowed it down and there was looseness on the steering wheel.

The time we met, you mentioned that you travel a lot. Can you tell us how it all started?My first trip was from Włocławek to Gdańsk. It took us over 4 hours and was extremely exhausting. At the beginning, I thought about the bus as an everyday car, occasionally for trips with friends out of town. And so it was. A breakthrough in our combined history was signing up on the VW T3 friends forum (where I am currently a moderator).There were first meet-ups with people addicted to buses and hearing about their travel stories… I started to modernize the bus for future trips. I exchanged everything starting with the engine, the gear box and ending with the curtains.And so in July 2010, we proceeded with friends to conquer the unknown Balkans. After 34 days and 7 thousand kilometers, future trips were already in the making.Two years later we swam in the Caspian Sea and the beaches of Baku.

The most extreme situation throughout your travels?During this trip something happened that still makes us shudder. Arriving at the waterfalls, coming from the northern border with Dagestan, we were stopped by the armed with machine guns Azerbaijan army. We were recognized as western spies and our passports were taken away. After a few stressful hours and the involvement of other people the situation has been cleared up, although the willingness to visit the waterfalls has passed us definitively.

Did you ever had a breakdown while traveling?Before every trip, the bus is being serviced to eliminate the possibility of breakdowns on the road. Although minor faults always happen considering the age of the bus – it’s been 32 years!

What was the process of converting the van to Bus Cafe?It took me half a year of work to create the cafe. I made it all by myself – from design to implementation. Most time took the completion of equipment, so the whole van could work independently from external power sources and be powered from solar panels. I also had to think up and build the interior all by myself, due to the non-standard dimensions of the bus. Another challenge was to prepare the bus for work in the winter season, where most of the food trucks are closed. It required thermal insulation of everything and the assembly of a heating source. The cost, not counting the car and the work done, was over 25.000 PLN.Six years ago when I started my business I was one of the first food trucks in Tri-City. When designing I was looking for inspiration on foreign websites, but I mainly focused on my own ideas.

Is Bus Cafe a business that arose spontaneously or maybe a long-awaited dream that has been fulfilled? What decided about settling down in Tri-City?Bus Cafe – an experiment combining work with passion! A few years ago I quit my job in which I spent six years. I wanted to change something! The first step, at the persuasion of a friend, was the departure to Great Britain. I realized very quickly that this was not my place. After returning, I was thinking of a job I could feel good enough to get up to every day without any resistance. I can not recall the exact moment when I connected the bus and coffee in my head, but this idea motivated me to action.

Love and passion for coffee – have you always been a coffee lover, or maybe something particular happened that you became interested in coffee?Earlier I didn’t like coffee, I didn’t even drink it. I always associated coffee with dregs in my mouth and a terrible sour taste. My current fiancée, who at the time was a barista, introduced me to the culture of drinking coffee. For the past six years, since I’ve started working with coffee, everyday I’m learning more about it. Right now my goal is to create a stationary cafe based on speciality coffee.

How does your work look like now?My day starts quite early. Due to the mobile nature of the café, there is a lot of extra work involved. Every day, before 7am I drive to the spot, prepare the equipment, heat the coffee machine, “set up” everything. The smell of freshly ground coffee and the espresso shot compensates me for getting up so early. 😉 I finish brewing at 2pm, but this doesn’t mean the end of the work. In order for the bus to be ready for the next day, I need to top up the water, gas, goods and make orders, which requires more time. Due to the schedule of studies, I don’t have to give up and resign from traveling during the holidays. In my life I value freedom and time, that’s why I use every day to fulfill my passion.From Monday to Friday, you can find me in Bus Cafe on the campus of the University of Gdansk.You’re welcome. because here we brew coffee! 🙂

The visit to our favourite local roastery had something special prepared for us. We ended up taking part in a cupping session with fellow coffee lovers.

We quite often need to refill our coffee supplies. This time the visit to our favourite local roastery had something special prepared for us. As we looked around and tried to decide on the coffee beans, we somehow got engaged into a conversion between the barista, our friendManiek and his clientNate.

It turned out that Nate is a blogger coffee blogger. He tries to help small and local coffee shops to tell their stories and be acknowledged outside of Ireland. His current mission is to introduceSOMA coffee beans to Polish speciality coffee shops. As a part of it he invited us to a cupping session.

So what exactly is cupping?

You can actually determine it with the name itself. ”Cup” comes from the use of cups in the process of tasting coffee beans.

As you can guess inside of every cup are different types of coffee. So talking about the definition. Cupping is the way of tasting and observing the aromas and flavours of various kinds of coffee beans. Similar to wine, you can judge a coffee by defined parameters like aroma, acidity and aftertaste.

We actually couldn’t believe how many different flavours can evolve from a coffee bean. Simply take a look on the flavour wheel developed by world coffee research. For example skunky, medicinal, maple syrup, raspberry, coconut and isovaleric acid just to name a few.

How does coffee cupping work?

It all begins with the preparation of an estimate 8,25 g medium grounded coffee per cup. You then smell the dry grounds and get the first impression of the flavours. After you’re done with each coffee. You start a timer and pour 150ml of heated water (approx 94° C ) into each cup. The leftover water you put into a seperate cup. The spoons can heat up which you’ll need in the next steps.

After 4 minutes you take the spoons and remove a crust from the top of the cups. Breaking the crust release a lot of flavors, so be sure to get your nose in there!

Approximately 15 minutes after the first pour you take a spoon and slurp the coffee quickly. Slurping makes you taste more flavour and aroma, as it aerates the coffee and makes it coat your plates. Between every slurp you rinse your spoon in the spare cup.

Ready for more cupping

As we love to prepare different products in the kitchen. We have the awareness of how raw ingredients taste and how their flavor changes after the appropriate preparation. There are many ways to prepare food. Likewise there are so many ways to brew coffee. Just like with various kinds of drinks or food you learn to taste the difference when sampling small amounts.

Cupping was a whole new experience which brought us into the world of appreciating great coffee even more we did before. We can’t wait to explore more flavours!

More information about cupping

If you wish to get more information about coffee and it’s different brewing or tasting methods. Feel free to visit the website of the Specialty Coffee Association.

Pullman City Harz is a beautiful Wild West theme park in central Germany. We visited it as park of our trip to the Harz mountains at the end of September.

It was a warm September day when we drove through the Harz mountains and accidentally stumbled across Pullman City. Welcomed by a huge wooden sign above the road, we didn’t know what to expect at first. We parked our car and walked towards the main entrance. Suddenly some elder people dressed as citizens, cowboys and native people appeared out of nowhere. Certainly it felt like we’re time traveling and just popped up in some 1880s western city.

A truly western experience in central Germany

And it was exactly like that. After going past the entrance you arrive on the main street. The western vibe can be felt on every corner. Some country music is playing in one of the saloons and people act like in some good western movie. There’s countless of typical buildings from that time period like a sheriff’s office, a prison, a barber’s shop, a steakhouse and many different shops with handmade items.

Attractions for everyone

In addition to all the cultural experiences you can engage with, there’s tons of other attractions for every age group. As a result you should keep an eye on the event calendar as you might aim for some interesting workshops, concerts or US car meetings.

Furthermore interested visitors can marvel at the many different aspects of American settlement history. The story of the white is being told the Old Western Museum, while numerous exhibits display an insight into Indian culture and history. Those who want to participate actively, can among other things, try gold panning under the guidance of the Klondike Goldwash camp.

Useful information

Address:

Am Rosentale 1, 38899 Hasselfelde

Opening hours:

March – October daily 10am to 6pm, Big Mosse Saloon and

Dance Hall until about 1am

In low season, you will find the opening times on the website of Pullman City Harz.

A magical circus wagon in the city centre of Hamburg. An experience not for everyone, but for us it was the perfect getaway from daily routines.

We are finally back after a way to long break from blogging.

The last few months honestly weren’t easy for us. We were in the middle of work, studies and some difficulties in our private lives. Lots of things have changed, but hopefully for the better.

We are looking forward to new adventures and hope that our readers will keep us company.

Let’s begin, again!

After not seeing each other for a few weeks, we decided to reunite in Hamburg and spend some quality time together. It really quickly became one of our favourite trips to Hamburg. As many of you may not know, our first months together were in between of two cities – Gdansk and Hamburg. Maybe that’s why those cities will remain so special to us.

Going back to the present. Little did we know where we will end up this evening. The only thing we knew is that this Airbnb has no hot running water and the sanitary facilities are located outside of the accomodation. We drove to the location indicated on the app and ended up in front of a rustic house, quite close to the airport. Two happy dogs rushed on us and the host welcomed us from the rustic houses window. We then followed a narrow path through some precisely grown bushes and ended up in front of a magical looking circus wagon.

It turned out be shocking at first, no wifi, no hot running water and a composting toilet. But the more time we spend inside, everything became natural to us.

After some glasses of wine we suddenly began to appreciate the interior of the circus wagon. The wood covered walls were filled with character and authenticity, and the small details made it feel complete. It wasn’t something we would replicate in our homes, but it was in many ways inspirational.

All in all we would totally recommend this accomodation to anyone looking for a cozy country getaway close to Hamburg. It’s hard to believe that a place like this one exists and next time, we would love to spend some more time enjoying it.

Feel free to use our special link to get a discount on your first booking with Airbnb.

Spending Valentine’s Day in Paris is a dream of many couples. We did not have it in plan, but we liked this coincidence. For both of us it was the first visit to the French capital. When booking a hotel, we were guided by the price and proximity to the metro.

Welcome, this time from Paris.

For both of us it was the first visit to the French capital. When booking a hotel, we were guided by the price and proximity to the metro – it is the best way to communicate, or rather to teleport through this huge city. Our hotel was located in the 18th district, on the hill Montmartre, a few hundred meters from the popular monument – the Basilica Sacre Coeur. It is a beautiful area full of charming streets with cafes, local shops and bakeries.

On the first day of our stay, we asked the local bartender which place he would recommend for breakfast. And so on the next day we savored delicious baguettes and cakes from the nearby bakery Les Deux Frères.

When booking a hotel in an unknown city, it is worth reading the opinions of people who traveled there earlier. So far we haven’t been disappointed by any place of accommodation, which we always book through the same website. If, like us, you are looking for a hotel with a French atmosphere, and additionally at an affordable price, we recommend booking.com.

Spending valentine’s day in Paris is a dream of many couples. We did not have it in plan, but we liked this coincidence. It was at least a good excuse to choose restaurants of a slightly higher standard than usual – they served snails, so it looked like one for us. Finding an atmospheric place for a beer and french fries in our district wasn’t a problem. Going out for a walk in the evening, it was impossible to miss the beautifully lit places decorated in Parisian style. In addition, we often found the so-called happy hour – a cheaper drink, plus an aperitif, that’s the way we like it.

Paris is loaded with beautiful movie-like views, exceptional with its architecture. It’s very easy to fall in love with it, but this feeling diminishes the moment you try to squeeze through the crowd of tourists right next to the main attractions. But do not be discouraged! Because, after all, it is worth coming here, even for the most delicious baguettes you ever had in your life.

When booking our apartment in Croatia we didn’t think about the attractions in the surrounding area as we mainly craved for great weather. On our way to Tisno we noticed street signs guiding to the Krka National Park and decided to research what it’s all about.

When booking our apartment in Croatia we didn’t think about the attractions in the surrounding area as we mainly craved for great weather. On our way to Tisno we noticed street signs guiding to the Krka National Park and decided to research what it’s all about.

Being situated in the beautiful Šibenik – Knin county, it is the second most visited national park in Croatia and encloses an area of 109 square kilometers along the Krka River. As well as the lower part of Čikola river. The Krka National Park is an enormous, mostly unchanged region of exceptional and multifaceted natural value, and includes one or more preserved or insignificantly altered ecosystems.

The most comfortable way to explore the park is by car as you need to drive between the five main entrances: Skradin, Lozovac, Roški Slap, Krka Monastery and Burnum. If you are coming from Split it might take you around 1,5 hour, from Zadar 1 hour and from Šibenik 20 minutes.

In case you don’t have a car there is some options to get a bus from the cities mentioned above. There’s also a possibility of doing a day trip with one of the local tour guides.

After seeing the remote Visovac Monastery we spent the most of our time at Roški slap. An area with beautiful waterfalls, some educational hiking paths and an old mill which has been transformed into a multifunctional area for tourists. There is a traditional dalmatian restaurant called “Konoba Kristijan”. You can try dalmatian prosciutto or some other domestic meals whilst dipping your feet into a waterfall. In addition to that there is a workshop for children, a museum of local tradition and a place where you can see how processing corn traditionally looked like.

The educational hiking trails can be chosen by difficulty. We decided to take a trail around waterfalls looking like stairs and wandered into a more difficult path which led us to a pre historical cave Oziđana pećina (5000 BC to about 1500 BC). Some years ago an archaeological study revealed various artefacts showing the history of this place: stone tools, stone knives and animal bones inside the cave.

Near the cave you have the opportunity to see Roški slap from an incredibly beautiful perspective. With a view overlooking waterfalls and surrounding mountains, it is worth stopping and resting moments after an exhausting climb to the top.

only 10,000 visitors are permitted at any one time at Skradinski Buk – so be sure to secure your tickets in advance. You can use to following website to find more information: www.parkovihrvatske.hr/webshop

as some of the areas allow swimming during the summer months you should take swimming gear with you

The incredible longing for the sun and the need to break away from the busy everyday life resulted in a quick planning of our four day trip to beautiful Tel Aviv.

The incredible longing for the sun and the need to break away from the busy everyday life resulted in a quick planning of our trip to Tel Aviv. In the past, we planned to visit Israel, but we had security concerns because the country is in a constant political conflict. In just 5 hours, we got from cold Poland to hot Israel. Despite only 4 days of stay, all our expectations were met. The city gave us beautiful weather, the opportunity to relax on the beach and stunning architecture.

The Tel Aviv Center is modern and full of life, very much like European cities. Walking through crowded streets, you can say that the city is not cluttered, but it is neglected, and the air seems dense.

Lying on one of the local beaches you can have an impression that the panorama of the city is constantly changing, many new buildings are being built, but old buildings are no longer used.

If you have heard about ghost buildings, there is no shortage of them in Tel Aviv. This is how you can call some of the places that stand in the middle of popular stores or restaurants. Between such great contrasts of poverty and prosperity, one can not pass by indifferently.

Beaches in Tel Aviv are very clean and tidy. The beautiful promenade along the waterfront gives you the possibility of walking or riding an electric bicycle to many popular attractions. There is even one bay in which there are three completely different beaches: the first for orthodox Jews, the second for homosexuals and the third for people with dogs. What may seem paradoxical to us, is normal for the residents of Tel Aviv and testifies to their tolerance.

Jaffa is the oldest part of Tel Aviv and an ancient port city where Jonah, Solomon and St. Peter made biblical history. It’s full of charming art galleries, flea markets and historical buildings providing an interesting contrast to the modern parts in the north.

If touring Jaffa you shouldn’t miss the port. It’s an enchanting place with fish restaurants and interior design galleries at your footstep. You can see the fresh fish being brought by the fisherman and cooked directly in front of you. Shrimps, calamari or tilapia, it’s your choice.

Tel Aviv is also called the “White City” due to the fact that it has the largest number of buildings built in Bauhaus and international style in the world. In the 1930s, over 4,000 buildings were built by Jewish architects who fled to Palestine from Nazi Germany. The Bauhaus Center in Dizengoff offers guided tours twice a week.

Tel Aviv charged our batteries! Despite the unpleasant controls at the airport, we would undoubtedly repeat the trip once again. Tel Aviv is an unusual city, in its own way very European, and more often in skyscrapers and yet having its own unusual history.

Sabbath is Judaism’s day of rest and seventh day of the week, on which from a few minutes before sunset on Friday evening until the appearance of three stars in the sky on Saturday night most of the restaurants, cafes and shops will be closed.

Google Maps’ Public Transport feature is a great and accurate way to see how to get around Tel Aviv.

We recommend you to be in your terminal about 3 hours before departure as the customs might investigate you longer than on other airports. Answer all questions honestly and politely, assuming you have nothing to hide you will be allowed in and out without any problem.

The town of Tisno is located in a very convenient area for people wishing to explore the Dalmatian area by car. Unlike the bigger cities it is a much quieter location, far from the tourist crowd and night life.

Our decision on this year’s holiday destination has been affected by many factors. We planned to spend a little money and only had 10 days to rest. In addition, we didn’t take into account trips organized by travel agencies, because we love adrenaline when planning a vacation on our own. The prices of airline tickets for the corresponding dates unfortunately was not attractive. Eventually we decided to go to sunny Croatia – by car.

Planning our stay in Dalmatia began with the preparation of the route. We traveled through the Czech Republic, Austria and Slovakia. The first resting place on the road was Wiener Neustadt, a city near Vienna, where we found an accommodation with a very reasonably price. On the way back we decided to stay at Orea Resort Santon, which is located on the outskirts of the Czech town of Brno. Both places proved to be very good for a one night stop.

Our landing place was Tisno – a charming, peaceful town situated between Split and Zadar. By booking.com, we booked a large, modern room with a beautiful view of a quiet Mediterranean bay. Apartment Antonio we can sincerely recommend, especially for the sake of pleasant, helpful service, cleanliness and great location. (By clicking on this link you will get a 15 € discount for the next booking) An additional advantage is the restaurant located on the ground floor of the building right next to the water. You can eat fresh Croatian dishes enjoying a wonderful sunset view. What more could you want!

Tisno is located in a very convenient area for people wishing to explore the Dalmatian area by car. Unlike the bigger cities it is in a much quieter location, far from the tourist crowd and night life. The town is famous for its popular Soundwave music festival, which attracts young people from all over Europe every year. In addition to the small towns near our hotel, we also had the opportunity to visit Šibenik, Zadar and Krka National Park, which will have separate posts on the blog soon.

When deciding on a car trip you have to remember to buy car vignettes that you will find in kiosks, fuel stations and shops just outside the border (Austria, Czech Republic, Slovakia). As well as payments for the motorway in Croatia. The total cost in both directions was about 100€.

September in Croatia is a risk in terms of weather. We unfortunately missed a few days because of great floods, which particularly affected the region where we were staying.

In Croatia, the currency is Kuna, in Austria Euro and in Czech Republic there are Czech crowns.

The town of Tisno and the nearby towns are, however, very small. So remember to have cash on hand.

One of the best souvenirs you can bring from Croatia is the wonderful regional products – smoked ham, olives, olive oil, wine, beer.

Krka National Park is a large region, with an area of ​​109 km². It is worth to spend the whole day on his sightseeing.

When it comes to food establishments we managed to explore a lot of them during our time in Dublin. This post portrays our favourite spots to have a delicious meal, enjoy a great barista coffee or get carried away by an amazing atmosphere.

When it comes to food establishments we managed to explore a lot of them during our time in Dublin. This post portrays our favourite spots to have a delicious meal, enjoy a great barista coffee or get carried away by an amazing atmosphere.